When one of the founders of Corona beer passed away, a story quickly spread that he had given millions in his will to the people in his hometown. While that turned out to be false, he did give much to the town over the years.
In the U.S., many rural small towns are slowly dying as residents grow old and new families do not move in. The same thing is happening in Spain, where many small rural communities have disappeared.
One town is Northern Spain is different than many others.
The small village of Cerezales del Condado averages only 15 residents in the winter and is still going strong. What makes it different is that it has a wealthy native son, Antonino Fernandez, who was one of the founders of the Corona Beer empire.
When Fernandez passed away, a small newspaper in Spain printed that he had left every resident of the village $2 million in his will.
The story was quickly picked up and spread online according to npr in "A Spanish Village Stays Afloat, Thanks to Corona Beer Tycoon."
There was only one problem with the story. It was not true.
Fernandez did not leave any provision in his will to divide his fortune between residents of his native village. However, Fernandez did give millions to the village over the years, despite having moved away to seek his fortune in Mexico 75 years ago.
He established an arts center, rebuilt houses, paved the roads and much more. He even started a foundation to employ disabled people in the area.
Thanks to his generosity, the town is still going strong and recently had the first young family relocate there in a long time.
This goes to show that not everything on the Internet is true. In this case, the details of Fernandez's generosity were wrong, but the fact that he was generous was not.
Reference: npr (December 5, 2016) "A Spanish Village Stays Afloat, Thanks to Corona Beer Tycoon."
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